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Shuttle issues
Feb. 2nd, 2003 11:55 amSo, I'm not entirely certain what to think about the loss of Columbia.
When I first heard about it, I had three reactions: 1) I felt sorry for the families of the astronauts, 2) I worried that this would be used as an excuse to hurt the NASA programs, and 3) I felt upset that the current administration felt the need to state that this wasn't likely to be an act of terrorism, which I felt to be self-evident.
I worry about NASA -- it seems to me that NASA is one of our great accomplishments. It has its problems, true, but still, NASA has achieved many great things, with effects far beyond space missions. But I don't think that people realize how large an effect NASA (and the space programs of other countries) has on their life. So I'm worried what the fallout of this will be.
I was also upset that the USA Government felt the need to say "this was probably not an act of terrorism". To me, that is self-evident. However, Ania disagrees -- she thinks that it was a smart move, given that there was an Israeli astronaut aboard. She may be right. It still vaguely upsets me that we think we need to say this.
One last thought, which is rather sick/dark: why is it that both Shuttle accidents have occured when there was someone aboard who wasn't an American astronaut?
When I first heard about it, I had three reactions: 1) I felt sorry for the families of the astronauts, 2) I worried that this would be used as an excuse to hurt the NASA programs, and 3) I felt upset that the current administration felt the need to state that this wasn't likely to be an act of terrorism, which I felt to be self-evident.
I worry about NASA -- it seems to me that NASA is one of our great accomplishments. It has its problems, true, but still, NASA has achieved many great things, with effects far beyond space missions. But I don't think that people realize how large an effect NASA (and the space programs of other countries) has on their life. So I'm worried what the fallout of this will be.
I was also upset that the USA Government felt the need to say "this was probably not an act of terrorism". To me, that is self-evident. However, Ania disagrees -- she thinks that it was a smart move, given that there was an Israeli astronaut aboard. She may be right. It still vaguely upsets me that we think we need to say this.
One last thought, which is rather sick/dark: why is it that both Shuttle accidents have occured when there was someone aboard who wasn't an American astronaut?
